Cooke City in the Lexus: TRPLOK in the Beartooths, 2023

Off-Road & TrailsLand Cruisers
Written by Aaron Thies

Montana • Cooke City • August 2023

Cooke Cityin the Lexus

Four years after our 2019 trip, we went back to the high country above Cooke City in TRPLOK, with Boone riding shotgun.

Silver Lexus LX450 with round auxiliary lights and a TRPLOK plate on a boulder-lined trail in the trees near Cooke City, Montana
Granite — High Lakes — Triple-Locked — Boone on Every Rock — Never Lift — Granite — High Lakes — Triple-Locked —

Back to Cooke

In 2019, I did Cooke City in my FJ Cruiser. In August 2023, I went back in TRPLOK, my triple-locked, turbocharged 1997 Lexus LX450, with a group of Land Cruisers and Boone in the passenger seat.

Same granite, same lakes, very different truck. Here’s the trip.

View over a truck hood of a two-lane road heading toward rugged peaks with a truck ahead near Cooke City, Montana
The drive in never gets old.
Driver’s view of a Lexus steering wheel with a wirehaired dog leaning in from the passenger seat near Cooke City, Montana
Co-pilot.
Striped Lexus LX450 and a gray Land Cruiser parked at a high overlook above a vast mountain basin near Cooke City, Montana
The view from the top.

The Trails

The roads above Cooke City are old mining routes from the New World Mining District, and they climb fast into granite, boulder fields and alpine basins full of lakes. This is where a triple-locked 80 Series is in its element: crawl, pick a line, keep moving.

Rocky, boulder-strewn trail climbing a slope toward a truck under dramatic clouds near Cooke City, Montana
Rocks for days.
Dark Land Cruiser with lights perched on granite boulders with rocky peaks behind near Cooke City, Montana
Picking a line.
Small white truck crossing a wide alpine basin below a boulder field and peaks near Cooke City, Montana
Scale.
Land Cruiser on a grassy slope among large granite boulders under a deep blue sky near Cooke City, Montana
Big sky, bigger rocks.

One run went late. Blue rock lights on granite at night is a whole different trail.

Truck on a rocky trail at night lit by blue rock lights under a dark blue sky near Cooke City, Montana
Rock lights earn their keep.
Wirehaired dog standing on a grassy slope among granite with a pink sunset sky near Cooke City, Montana
Boone waiting on the sunset.

Camp by the Lake

Camp was in a meadow next to a high lake, with rooftop tents, a short-wheelbase 70 Series towing a little red trailer and a Discovery that brought its own tent.

Camp in a meadow beside a lake with a white truck, a rooftop tent and a camp table under a cloudy sky near Cooke City, Montana
Lake camp.
Black Land Rover Discovery with a gray rooftop tent parked beside a high lake near Cooke City, Montana
The Discovery’s spot.
White short-wheelbase Toyota Land Cruiser 70 Series towing a small red trailer on a gravel road near Cooke City, Montana
A 70 Series and its trailer.
Wirehaired dog sitting in the grass in front of a tan Land Cruiser 70 Series near Cooke City, Montana
Boone approves of the 70.

Boone on Every Rock

Boone was about four months old on our 2019 Cooke City trip. By 2023 he was a full-grown mountain dog, and he made it his job to stand on every rock in the Beartooths.

Wirehaired dog standing on granite with an orange and blue sunset sky behind near Cooke City, Montana
King of the rock.
Wirehaired dog with his tongue out in a meadow in front of a Lexus LX450 near Cooke City, Montana
Boone and TRPLOK.
Wirehaired dog sitting on a boulder at the edge of a blue alpine lake near Cooke City, Montana
Lake rock.
Wirehaired dog sitting on a lichen-covered boulder beside a lake under a deep blue sky near Cooke City, Montana
Another lake rock.

Know Before You Go

Timing. August is the sweet spot. The high country can hold snow well into July.

Night runs. If you’re out after dark, go slow, run lights you can actually see the trail with and stay together.

Wilderness. The roads run right up to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Vehicles stop where the road stops.

Read the 2019 trip in Cooke City and Goose Lake, and if you’re deciding between an LX450 and a Land Cruiser, see LX450 vs. 80 Series. More about the dog: meet Boone.

Striped Lexus LX450 with a roof rack and open rear door parked in a sunny lot next to another Land Cruiser near Cooke City, Montana
Back in town.
Same granite. Different truck.

More From Cooke City

Striped Lexus LX450 in a basin at sunset with a wirehaired dog sitting in front near Cooke City, Montana
Wirehaired dog in wildflowers in front of a striped Lexus LX450 near Cooke City, Montana
Lexus LX450 on a gravel road with a line of trucks behind near Cooke City, Montana

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Aaron Thies
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